Echocardiography and pulmonary function as screening tests for pulmonary arterial hypertension in systemic sclerosis

Abstract

The positive predictive accuracy of currently used non-invasive tests are adequate for the diagnosis of advanced PAH provided sufficiently high thresholds (TG > 45 mmHg or DLCO < 55% predicted) are used. These tests cannot be relied upon to exclude pulmonary hypertension where pre-test probability is high.